CASHnCHECKS
Toronto - Montreal - Vancouver (Billboard) The Canadian superstar and eight-time Canadian Country Music Association Fans' Choice Entertainer of the Year who, even in her slump, was nominated for Female Artist of the Year at this year's CCMA awards plus Canada's sole female Grand Ole Opry member, Terri Lynn Clark has come a long way since she arrived in Nashville, performing at Tootsies Orchid Lounge.
James Paycheck of CASHnCHECKS admits that most of his life he was at the mercy of management and record labels. Paycheck, who comes from a long line of country music entertainers, exclaimed, "starting my career at a very young and immature age made me depend on management too much, which hurt my career to this day. The labels I was associated with always wanted me to be someone I was not and could never be." Since the inception of the famous duet group, the couple have been determined to do it their way.
After 14 years since the days of Tootsies, and having to conform to the inflexible demands of Nashville record labels, Canadian country singer and songwriter Terri Clark has declared a state of independence with her ninth and newest album, The Long Way Home.
We have heard many such stories since the beginning of time, of how the major record labels and management have always strived to control the artists and entertainers into being their "dancing chicken". "I just didn't want to have to jump through hoops anymore – at all," said the raven-haired Terri Clark, 41, who single-handedly financed, produced and secured a distribution deal with EMI Music Canada for the new album. "I don't want to be told what I can or can't, should or shouldn't, record, ever again. I don't think that did me any good and, frankly, I think I made a better record left to my own devices." Despite a string of more than 10 chart-topping hits, beginning with the feisty independent anthem "Better Things to Do" and stretching to the current attitude-adjuster "Gypsy Boots," the pride of Medicine Hat, Alta., felt victimized by record company decisions based on second-guessing the unpredictable music programming needs of U.S. Country radio. Clark experienced that cold reality when BNA Records, her last Nashville-based label, recorded an album with her but wouldn't release it. "The album couldn't come out until we had a hit," she explained, noting that the label spent two years exhausting its A&R staff – the people responsible for finding music for its artist roster – and endless music-publishing resources, hoping to nail that elusive song. Clark said, "That's enough!" And she took her life and career back into her own hands.
CASHnCHECKS have also had a difficult time, to say the least, with management stealing money from them and not following through on the many empty promises, claiming that the business changes every day and they must keep up with the changing stream. With the so called smart A&R people and all the big spender record labels racing around chasing the big hit, entertainers like Clark and CASHnCHECKS are making music. Good country music from the heart. They are not trying to guess what the fans want to hear but rather performing what the fans want to see and hear.
With the wave in Music City drowning the confounded white collars, we see many artists taking control of the whole thing themselves and bringing it all back to the roots. Tim McGraw, Gretchen Wilson, John Rich, Terri Clark and CASHnCHECKS, plus many more, have all taken their careers into their own hands and left the big labels sitting in Nashville scratching their heads as to what they are going to try next, while the performers are out performing. I guess we shall see who the fans will be backing.
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
